Seats of the Mighty | Page 5

point of
morality is here?"
"The most vital--to you," he rejoined, flicking his handkerchief a little,
and drawling so that I could have stopped his mouth with my hand.
"Shall a hostage on parole make sketches of a fort and send them to his
friends, who in turn pass them on to a foolish general?"
"When one party to an Article of War brutally breaks his sworn
promise, shall the other be held to his?" I asked quietly.
I was glad that, at this moment, the Seigneur Duvarney entered, for I
could feel the air now growing colder about Madame his wife. He, at
least, was a good friend; but as I glanced at him, I saw his face was
troubled and his manner distant. He looked at Monsieur Doltaire a

moment steadily, stooped to his wife's hand, and then offered me his
own without a word; which done, he went to where his daughter stood.
She kissed him, and, as she did so, whispered something in his ear, to
which he nodded assent. I knew afterwards that she had asked him to
keep me to dinner with them.
Presently turning to Monsieur Doltaire, he said inquiringly, "You have
a squad of men outside my house, Doltaire?"
Doltaire nodded in a languid way, and answered, "An escort--for
Captain Moray--to the citadel."
I knew now, as he had said, that I was in the trap; that he had begun the
long sport which came near to giving me the white shroud of death, as
it turned white the hair upon my head ere I was thirty-two. Do I not
know, the indignities, the miseries I suffered, I owed mostly to him,
and that at the last he nearly robbed England of her greatest pride, the
taking of New France?--For chance sometimes lets humble men like
me balance the scales of fate; and I was humble enough in rank, if in
spirit always something above my place.
I was standing as he spoke these words, and I turned to him and said,
"Monsieur, I am at your service."
"I have sometimes wished," he said instantly, and with a courteous if
ironical gesture, "that you were in my service--that is, the King's."
I bowed as to a compliment, for I would not see the insolence, and I
retorted, "Would I could offer you a company in my Virginia
regiment!"
"Delightful! delightful!" he rejoined. "I should make as good a Briton
as you a Frenchman, every whit."
I suppose he would have kept leading to such silly play, had I not
turned to Madame Duvarney and said, "I am most sorry that this
mishap falls here; but it is not of my doing, and in colder comfort,
Madame, I shall recall the good hours spent in your home."

I think I said it with a general courtesy, yet, feeling the eyes of the
young lady on me, perhaps a little extra warmth came into my voice,
and worked upon Madame, or it may be she was glad of my removal
from contact with her daughter; but kindness showed in her face, and
she replied gently, "I am sure it is only for a few days till we see you
again."
Yet I think in her heart she knew my life was perilled: those were rough
and hasty times, when the axe or the rope was the surest way to deal
with troubles. Three years before, at Fort Necessity, I had handed my
sword to my lieutenant, bidding him make healthy use of it, and,
travelling to Quebec on parole, had come in and out of this house with
great freedom. Yet since Alixe had grown towards womanhood there
had been strong change in Madame's manner.
"The days, however few, will be too long until I tax your courtesy
again," I said. "I bid you adieu, Madame."
"Nay, not so," spoke up my host; "not one step: dinner is nearly served,
and you must both dine with us. Nay, but I insist," he added, as he saw
me shake my head. "Monsieur Doltaire will grant you this courtesy,
and me the great kindness. Eh, Doltaire?"
Doltaire rose, glancing from Madame to her daughter. Madame was
smiling, as if begging his consent; for, profligate though he was, his
position, and more than all, his personal distinction, made him a
welcome guest at most homes in Quebec. Alixe met his look without a
yes or no in her eyes--so young, yet having such control and wisdom,
as I have had reason beyond all men to know. Something, however, in
the temper of the scene had filled her with a kind of glow, which added
to her beauty and gave her dignity. The spirit of her look caught the
admiration of this expatriated courtier, and I knew that a deeper